TJ: np231J teralow 4:1 Issues

[nikos]

Im looking for some help. I need to take the transfer case apart (np231J with a teralow kit) because something is definately going bad in there. Ive done all the external checks, and still issue prevails. My issue is I have never taken one of those apart or defiantely have never repaired. I am looking for someone who has done these before to open it up and diagnose the issue. Taking it to your local mechanic doesnt seem logical and shipping it back to teralow will cost a fortune just in shipping. Willing to pay someone to help me out. I will drive to you. I wll remove the transfer case. Once I know the issue, then I can order the parts.

Anyone willing to help me out. Thanks.

[4X4 HO]

I an San Diego, installed a few of them...

[aw12345]

You can swing by my place, is it making a god awful screeching noise at times? mine did, one of the more common failures is that one of the planetary gears looses it's bearing. To get that fixed you send the front half back to terra. They did mine and another whellin frien's terra lo kit under warranty.

[nikos]

Ya thats the noise. I talked to them and they said its out of warranty and wont cover labor or parts. Have you taken these apart before? I assume yes since you sent yours in. Any feedback as to what I should do next is so welcomed. Thanks.

[nikos]

And you really start to hear it when the jeep has been driven for a while. I want to take my jeep out but im stuck now. uHHg.

[aw12345]

Ya thats the noise. I talked to them and they said its out of warranty and wont cover labor or parts. Have you taken these apart before? I assume yes since you sent yours in. Any feedback as to what I should do next is so welcomed. Thanks.

You got 2 courses of action swap the original front half of the transfercase back in or send this one in to terra. Or once it's apart see if a machinist can make some new bearing bushings. Truth be told I'll never buy a terra lo again. Mine works fine again, but I like the Atlas in my other Jeep so much better. Let me know what you want to do. Once you got the thing out I can strip it down for ya

[nikos]

I will definately take you up on that. Thanks so much. Once I get it out, I'll let you know. Thanks. Now if that was the problem, they have to replace the enitre half of the tranfer case? What exactly goes bad, what part? I would like this info so I can contact them again and see if they would cover anything. If its the case itself, would they not cover it? From my dealings with them, they have been very nice but wont warrantly internals. What did you do? Did you have it over a year when it acted up? I agree, never again. I just dont got it right now. Thanks.

[nikos]

Thanks.

I an San Diego, installed a few of them...

Thanks man, I'll keep that in mind. What kind of failures have you seen? If any?

[aw12345]

I will definately take you up on that. Thanks so much. Once I get it out, I'll let you know. Thanks. Now if that was the problem, they have to replace the enitre half of the tranfer case? What exactly goes bad, what part? I would like this info so I can contact them again and see if they would cover anything. If its the case itself, would they not cover it? From my dealings with them, they have been very nice but wont warrantly internals. What did you do? Did you have it over a year when it acted up? I agree, never again. I just dont got it right now. Thanks.

You send them the front half and they replace the planetary unit.
They did it under warranty among other reasons because it was a design defect, from what they told me and what I saw when I took it apart is that not all 5 gears in the planetary unit carry an equal load so the ones that carry most of the load experience a bearing failure. That is exactly what mine did. It started making noise, took it apart didn't see an aparant failure, so stuck it back together drove it for another 2 months then coming down from Big Bear it made so much noise that I could not turn the radio up enough to try and drown it out. Still got me home though. Just had to wait a month and a half after I send it to them to get the supposedly new and improved gear set

[nikos]

Jeez. How did you convince them that it was defective design. Any words of advice. Cant they just send me a planetary unit and install it, instead of shipping it to them. Would that work? I know what it looks like and have done reading on the subject, but without hands on experience, I cant 100% know how these internals fit and interact. I would like to just diagnose the issue, buy the part, replace it, and done. That would be ideal. I dont know if thats possible though. You mentioned a machine shop. From what you've said thus far, I gather that in order to swap the new planetary unit, one must machine the units resting slot. Right or so wrong? lol

[aw12345]

If they sell you just the planetary unit, then there is no reason that you cannot put it in. It's fairly simple.
They warrantied mine, but then they told me I had to wait for almost 2 months before their new gear sets would come in that resolved the issue. From what I saw when I took it apart it is exactly what happened to mine. It wiped out the bearings on two of the gears in the planetary unit. The whole planetary set is welded together to fix it you would have to cut the welds that hold the shafts for the gears in place, then have new bushings machined and pressed into the gears then after its back together weld the shafts back in place and reassemble the transfercase.

[nikos]

ok. Understood. When you had this issue, did the oil look contaminated with metal shavings or was it still clean? Mine is clean. Can you still drive around with it like this, or will it grenade? Im moving out right now. When Im done with that nightmare, I'll remove it and let you know. If its ok, Id like you to take a look. If the issue is indeed the planetary and they sell me the unit, its a straight swap. If I want to fix a broken unit, then you would have to follow the instructions you just provided. Im I reading this right? Thanks.

If they sell you just the planetary unit, then there is no reason that you cannot put it in. It's fairly simple.
They warrantied mine, but then they told me I had to wait for almost 2 months before their new gear sets would come in that resolved the issue. From what I saw when I took it apart it is exactly what happened to mine. It wiped out the bearings on two of the gears in the planetary unit. The whole planetary set is welded together to fix it you would have to cut the welds that hold the shafts for the gears in place, then have new bushings machined and pressed into the gears then after its back together weld the shafts back in place and reassemble the transfercase.

[aw12345]

Drove mine for close to 2 months and had no real problems. By the way have you tried to take the rear drive shaft out and drive it in 4wheel drive?

[nikos]

Yes Ive done all of that. Front and rear driveshafts removed. Rolled down hill with engine off to make sure its not in the pumpkins. Did all the tests. Its finally narrowed down to the internals of the transfer case. Im so annoyed you have no idea. So much money for this teralow, and nothing but issues from day one. And to make things worse, Ive been in school for 2 years and havnt even really used the jeep. That sucks. Now that Im done and I want to go have some fun, Im dealing with inferior designs. LOL. Anyway, thats how jeeps go. Gotta love them. I do.

[daniel_buck]

Time for atlas 4 speed, get that 10:1 ratio